Chapter 159 Dinner And Field Group Talk

"So how was the first day of classes for you two?" Evan asked. Lee Seng took a large bite of his burger and set it down.

"'Not bad." Ritsuka answered. "Advanced general studies are interesting enough, I guess. I think the only thing I'm going to have trouble with is history." Lee Seng swallowed his food and took a large gulp of water.

"Everything went as well as it could go, I guess." Lee Seng shrugged. He grabbed a fry and started to munch on it. "I think I'm more nervous about the Glass class I have to take tomorrow."

"How does your Specialist classes even work? You just get thrown into two separate classes and the school just says, 'This is all we can do for you?'" Olivia asked.

"I think the Specialists department is too small, so the school doesn't have too many resources on it. I might get some sort of checkup with a Specialist if they even have one working here." Lee Seng guessed. "But what about you two? How did your classes go? Do you guys have classes together?"

"Nah, we don't have any classes together. We go to lunch at the same time, but other than that, no classes together." Evan answered. "Classes went… well. I have my Specialization class, third period and that was interesting."

"Ah, how so?" Ritsuka asked with his mouth full.

"They've been working on strengthening the amount of hits a tank can take."

"That… sounds about right." Lee Seng shrugged. Evan sighed and put his chopsticks down.

"We had to literally endure a training dummy swinging at us. Basically it was an endurance battle. I haven't had to do that much endurance training in forever."

"A Tank's purpose in battle is to take the damage, right?" Lee Seng looked at Evan. "The tanks are capable of getting damage in but they mostly lack damage so they compensate it with their defense. I don't know why it wouldn't be so bad for you? You literally soak up kinetic energy and store it in that shield you can manifest."

"The problem is I can only store so much." Evan sighed. He grabbed his chopsticks and grabbed some more ramen noodles. "I haven't had to build up that much energy in so long… It's tiring." He began to slurp on his noodles and the others simply nodded.

"What about you, Olivia?" Ritsuka asked. "How was your first day of classes?" Olivia had been quietly munching on her rice and stir fry dish.

"Classes went well. Introductions are a pain to do, but a lot of people are interested in me." Olivia spoke.

"Interested in you? Like interested or just <strong>interested</strong>?" Ritsuka asked.

"There's talk about what happened during the Transfer Hell Weekend events and some talk about our exam rankings during the Solo run."

"Mmm, I think I overheard some talk about that today, too." Lee Seng chimed in.

"I think they're interested in trying to recruit me onto their team."

"We're literally four Third Year students who got onto the Top 5 solo list. The only one who would probably get way more attention is that other girl who was up there with us."

"True… But wouldn't Evan technically be the guy who's sought out? He literally placed first in the solo event."

"But I spent a lot of time trying to get out of the Ruined City." Evan interjected.

"Still, I think people would seek you out!"

"I think people will seek us out no matter what." Ritsuka confidently spoke. "We're four of the top 5 soloists and we did fairly well during the hell events. I don't see why people wouldn't look for us."

"Yeah, it's just…" Olivia trailed off. Lee Seng set his burger down and wiped his face and fingers.

"There's no need to stress over this stuff right now. We have to prepare for the check-up exam happening in a couple of weeks and then our focus shifts to the field expedition coming up." Lee Seng tried his best to rein in Olivia's focus. She seemed a bit hesitant about everything and he wondered what was on her mind. "Plus, didn't we say we were gonna form a group?"

Olivia looked up at Lee Seng. Her face lit up at the mention of the group.

'I guess she forgot.' Lee Seng guessed. Olivia began nodding and looking at the three boys.

"I thought we were gonna try that out." Ritsuka slowly nodded.

"Yeah, I thought we were gonna give it a shot. If it worked, we would register our group and find a vacant home around here." Evan added.

"Speaking of that, have you guys even checked around for the homes?" Lee Seng asked. The group shook their heads.

"This weekend has been pretty busy for all of us. I guess we just didn't have enough time to." Evan answered.

"I guess we could look it up later. We have practically over a month to figure things out." Olivia added. "Man, I totally forgot we were gonna try doing this field group thing together."

"Ah, you guys are thinking about doing a field group together?" Liz chimed in. The four looked up and saw Liz and Manny walking over to them. They weren't in their school uniforms anymore. "Can we sit with you guys?"

"Sure, sit." Olivia waved. Manny pulled the seat out next to Lee Seng and sat down. The two awkwardly looked at each other before Liz interrupted them.

"What were you guys talking about?" Liz asked.

"Just about field groups." Olivia immediately answered.

"Ahh," Liz nodded. She grabbed her fork and began to twirl the alfredo on her plate. She took a bite and looked up at Manny. "Didn't you say you wanted to join Lee Seng's group or something?"

"Ah, yeah." Manny answered. He was caught by surprise by Liz's sudden question.

"Oh, you wanna join us?" Olivia asked. Manny slowly nodded.

"Mercenary work is tough. I have to usually rope in Liz with me in order to keep her afloat. It'd be nice if we could all group together so I don't have to worry about her." Manny pointed. Liz rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I will hit you if you don't use your words carefully." Liz threatened Manny. Manny threw his hands up and smiled. He looked at the others.

"You wanna join us? Aren't you the best Mercenary in the school? You'd be losing a lot of money joining us." Evan asked.

"Mmm, what would benefit you to join us?" Lee Seng asked. He already knew Manny would have to join either way, but wanted to hear the excuse.

"Well," Manny shifted in his seat. He grabbed the ketchup bottle at the table and squirted some ketchup on the side. "It's true I make the most money as the top Mercenary in our year, but I don't get any safety nets. Any benefits for being in a field group."

"Any benefits? What benefits?" Olivia asked.

"Mercenary benefits are different from field group benefits." Liz informed the group. "Mercenaries make most of their money by setting a bounty amount. They add their own needs in so they can be covered for the duration of the mission/bounty. The number one thing here is mercenaries usually take this as a form of monetary payment. Field groups, on the other hand, get off-campus housing, stipend benefits, and they don't have to worry about finding work. Mercenary work is basically selling yourself and your skills to be pushed to the top.

"But for someone like Manny, you don't really need to sell yourself or your skills if you look like that." Liz motioned with her finger.

"So Manny, you want what out of the field group benefits?" Ritsuka asked. Manny swallowed the large bite of burger and held his finger up.

"I want off-campus housing." Manny answered. The group stared at him in disbelief.

"You just want that? You'd be losing so much money!"

"Yeah, well I have enough money to last me two lifetimes here." Manny waved. "It'd be nice to be in a field group. They do say once you make a field group, you're pretty much stuck with them for the rest of your time here… After I found out Lee Seng was here, I thought it'd be nice to… Show him the ropes and make up for some lost time." Manny smiled.

'That sounded really corny and bad… He couldn't have made a more likeable excuse?' Lee Seng took another large bite from his burger and watched Manny from his peripheral.

"Ah, you and Lee Seng knew each other before this?" Evan asked. Lee Seng watched Manny nod and turn to look at the reaction of the others.

"Did I tell you this…?" Lee Seng asked after swallowing his food. He shrugged and took the last bite of his burger.

"How do you know each other then…?: Ritsuka pointed at the two of them.

"His dad and my dad work with each other." Lee Seng answered with his mouth full. "We technically grew up together, but stuff happened and I haven't seen him in forever."

"Mmm, what he said." Manny pointed.

"Ahh," the others responded.

"I guess that means it must be some sort of fate for you two to room with each other." Evan happily nodded.

"You could… call it that." Lee Seng turned to look at Manny. Manny happily smiled and nodded along as he caught Lee Seng's cold gaze. Lee Seng sighed and shifted his attention back to the large plate of fries. He grabbed the ketchup bottle and squirted some ketchup on his plate and began to munch on the fries two or three at a time.